Peter Burrows penned a post basically urging Apple to start licensing patents to Android handset makers and thus begin to make more money. He says repeatedly that Apple won’t be able to stop Android devices from being sold and thus their attempts to do so are futile.
I say Burrows is completely missing the point. ((Shocking, I know.))
It’s pretty clear to everyone that Steve Jobs had one goal: stop Android from ripping off Apple patents. Largely referred to as “copying”. With Jobs gone you have to consider how on board Cook and the board of Apple are with that plan — and I think a reasonable assumption is that they are on board for now.
So we know the goal and the people in charge seem to back that goal. The plan is self-evident: lawsuits.
That just leaves the *why*.
Why does Apple care about this? If they only cared because they feel like they should be getting paid, then yes licensing is the best option — but it seems pretty damned clear that is not the why as Apple sees it.
I don’t know the why here, but if I had to guess I would say that Apple only wants users to have an iOS experience on an iOS device. And if that is the why, then licensing doesn’t solve a damned thing.